Safety cap and container neck construction

ABSTRACT

A safety cap and container neck construction is disclosed which is adapted to be opened by the cap being pushed downward upon the neck and being twisted. Cooperating holding means adapted to be snapped together are located on the interior of the skirt of the cap and on the exterior of the neck. Spring means are provided so as to bias the holding means so as to hold the cap with respect to the container.

PATENTEDUCH2I97| 8,612,324

2&6. 2. 0 5 /0 INVENTOR DELL M MAL/CK E0WA/20 D. OER/AN A Tram/5 United States Patent Dell M. Malick Route 1, Box 31A, Santa Rosa, Tex. 78593 861,013

Sept. 25, 1969 Oct. 12, 1971 lnventor Appl. No. Filed Patented SAFETY CAP AND CONTAINER NECK CONSTRUCTION 7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 215/9, 215/40, 215/44, 215/31 Int. Cl A61j 1/00, 865d 55/02 Field of Search 215/44, 40,

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,204,799 9/1965 Hunter et a1 215/31 3,339,770 9/1967 Weigand 215/44 3,344,942 10/1967 Hedgewic1 215/44 3,435,975 4/ 1969 Weigand 215/9 Primary Examiner-George T. Hall AttorneyEdward D. OBrian ABSTRACT: A safety cap and container neck construction is disclosed which is adapted to be opened by the cap being pushed downward upon the neck and being twisted. Cooperating holding means adapted to be snapped together are located on the interior of the skirt of the cap and on the exterior of the neck. Spring means are provided so as to bias the holding means so as to hold the cap with respect to the container.

SAFETY CAIP AND CONTAINER NECK CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Increasing recognition is being given to the dangers which can result from comparatively young children opening closures for medicinal containers, containers for other toxic substances or materials or containers for materials which while not is and of themselves dangerous, are of such a character that they could cause damage. As a result of this recognition a field of so called safety closures has been developed. Such safety closures are closures which are more difficult to remove from a container then closures which can be merely twisted off or snapped off of a container.

The most commonly known closures utilize constructions in which lugs or similar elements are held in retainers by the action of a resilient seal member With closures of this type closure removal is accomplished by pushing down against the closure so as to compress the sealing member utilized and then by turning the closure to an extend necessary to disengage the lugs or similar elements from the retainers used with them. Known structures of this type are commonly considered to provide adequate protection against juvenile opening to be classified as safety closures.

However, with such prior structures several significant problems have been encountered. One of these problems concerns the ease with which the structures may be molded. This is quite significant since in the closure field extremely small cost savings will mean the difference between commercial success and failure. Another problem which is considered signiflcant concerns sealing. To be completely satisfactory a safety closure must completely seal against the escape of fluids. Although the most common safety closures of the type indicated herein contain a sealing member it is generally conceded that such members do not create uniform, consistent fluidtight seals.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An objective of the present invention is to provide new and improved safety cap and container neck constructions which overcome various disadvantages and limitations of prior related devices as are indicated in the preceding. A further objective of the present invention is to provide new and improved safety cap and container neck construction which can be easily and conveniently molded out of modern thermoplastic materials by known injection molding techniques, and which when used can provide an effective seal against even comparatively hard to seal fluids. Further objectives of this invention are to provide closures of the class described which may be easily and conveniently used and which are capable of giving prolonged, reliable performance.

In accordance with this invention these objectives are achieved in the combination of a cap and a container by providing cooperating holding means of the interior of the cap skirt and of the exterior of the container neck which are adapted to be snapped together in a fixed position and providing spring means for resiliently holding the holding means in such a position. The invention involves many details and features which cannot be adequately indicated in a summary of this type.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Such details and features will be apparent from a careful consideration of the remainder of this specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. l is an isometric view of a presently preferred embodiment of a safety cap and container neck construction of this invention used in connection with a container;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view showing part of the interior of the cap shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a n isometric view showing a part of the exterior of the container neck showing in combination in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken at line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a planar explanatory view corresponding to a view taken at a plane extending around the periphery of the container neck shown in FIG. 4 through the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a partial cross'sectional view corresponding with FIG. 4 of a modified form of this invention.

The accompanying drawing is primarily intended to be used for explanatory purposes in illustrating the basic features of this invention. Because of this it is not intended to illustrate the various units shown in it drawn to scale. It will be realized that various changes may be made in the structure shown through the use of routine engineering skill without departing from the basic features of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. ll of the drawing there is shown the combination of a safety" cap it) installed on closed position upon a container neck 12. This neck 12 is of a cylindrical shape and extends from as a part of a conventional container 14. The neck 12 and container M are preferably manufactured form a known resilient polymer composition such as a vinyl composition as is commonly used for blow-molded bottles. The neck l2 and the container 114 may also be manufactured of other related material such as a resilient polyethylene or similar polyolefin polymers such as are used for bottles and the like.

As formed the neck 12 has an end 116 which carries an inwardly extending, gradually tapered sealing flange 18. This flange 18 is a continuous flange around the end 16 and extends inwardly from the end 16 towards the axis of the neck l2 and away from this neck 12. The flange I8 has its largest dimension where it is connected to and forms a part of the end 16.

As formed the neck l2 also preferable includes a series of equally spaced round, disclike projections 20. Preferably at least three of these projections 20 are used in order to achieve a uniform holding action completely around the exterior of the neck 12. All of the projections 28 employed preferably should lie in the same plain perpendicular to the axis of the neck 12. These projections 20 may be considered a set of holding means" which are adapted to coact with other holding means as hereinafter described located on the interior of a cylindrical skirt 22 carried by a top 24 of the cap 10.

Preferably this entire cap 10 is formed as an integral unit of a material such as polyethylene or a related polyolefin of resilient character such is as commonly used to form bottle caps which are either adapted to be snapped together or snapped on a container. The other holding means referred to formed on the skirt 22 comprises a. series of ramps 26 and retainers 28. It will be realized that each retainer 28 is associated with one the ramps 26 so as to form a set" of each of these elements. These ramps 26 and retainers 28 are preferably associated with one another so as to be equally spaced around the interior of the skirt 22 in the same plain perpendicular to the axis of this skirt. Preferably a single ramp 26 and retainer 28 is used for each of the projections 20 employed in order to avoid the use of excess parts.

The structure of the ramps 26 and retainers 28 is best explained with respect to the assembly of the cap 10 upon the neck 12 in a closed position as indicated in FIGS. l and 4 of the drawing. During such assembly the cap 10 is located over and pushed down upon the neck 12. As this occurs the flange 18 will gradually become compressed so as to form a seal against the top 24. At the same time the projections 20 may either fit between the ramps 26 or abut against upwardly curved lower surfaces 30 of these ramps 26.

At this point the cap 18 may be turned so as to cause the projections 20 to hit against upwardly sloping upper surfaces 32 of the ramps 26. As such downward pressure is applied and as twisting of the cap 10 is continued as indicated by the lowermost arrow a in FIG. 5 the projections 20 will his against the retainers 28. Because of the resiliency of such retainers 28 and of the projections 20 they will smap" past one another so that those projections 20 are held in notches 36. These notches 36 are at the uppermost extremities of the upper surfaces 32 and face the top 24 of the cap 10.

Once in these notches 36 the projections 20 are held in place in part by the resilient contact of the retainers 28 and to a larger extent by the force exerted by the flange 18 upon the top 24. Such force is exerted because of the resilient character of the material within the flange l8 and of the configuration of this flange itself. Because of the function it exercises this flange 18 may be considered as a spring means" biasing the cap 10 away from the end of the neck so as to hold the projections 20 in the notches 36.

In order to remove the cap 10 from the neck 12 pressure is applied to it so as to move it towards the neck 12 against the pressure of the flange l8 tending to oppose such motion. As the cap 10 is moved as a result of such pressure the projections 20 will be snapped past the retainers 28 because of their resiliency and the resiliency of these retainers 28. Such motion is indicated by the arrow b in FIG. 5. While pressure is continuously applied to the cap 10 after this has occurred the cap 10 may be rotated so as to space the projections 20 from the ramps 26 and the retainers 28. At this point the cap 10 may be freely removed from the neck of the container.

In FIG. 6 of the drawing there is shown a modified cap 40 used upon a modified container neck 42 which operates in a closely analogous manner. In the interest of brevity those parts of the cap 40 and the neck 42 which are the same and substantially the same as parts of the cap 10 and the neck 12 are not separately described herein and are indicated in the drawing and in the remainder of this specification by the primes of the numerals previously used to indicate such parts.

The cap 40 differs from the cap 10 by including in the interior surface of the top 24' an annular groove 44 having bevelled sides. It will be seen that this groove is largest where it is open to the interior of the cap 40 and is aligned with the neck 42. The groove 44 is adapted to receive the end 16 of this neck 42. The end 16 does not carry a flange corresponding to the flange 18. Instead the spring action achieved with the cap 40 the neck 42 is a result of a bellows fold 46 formed in the neck 42 between the end 16' and the projections 20. This fold 46 may be described as an annular serpentine type structure extending into the interior of the neck 42. It is of such a nature as to being capable of being compressed when the cap 40 is placed in a closed position so as to exert sufficient pressure at the end 16 to form a seal with the groove 44 and so as to maintain engagement of the cooperating means described. The operation of the cap 40 upon the neck 42 is otherwise identical to the operation of the cap 10 upon the neck 12.

Iclaim:

1. A safety cap and container neck combination having a container neck provided with an end and a cap having a top overlying said end and a skirt surrounding said neck in which the improvement comprises:

said neck being formed of a resilient material,

cooperating holding means for securing said cap is a closed position on said neck formed as said neck and on said skirt,

the first of said holding means being a set of projections,

the second of said holding means including being a set of notch means for holding said projections,

spring means for resiliently holding said projections in said notch means, said spring means being located so as to bias said cap away from said end of said neck,

said spring means comprising a bellows fold in said neck,

said bellows fold exerting pressure causing said end of said neck to fit against said top so as to form a seal therewith,

at least one of said holding means being formed of a resilient material so that said projections are capable of being snapped into said notch means as said cap is forced towards said container neck against the pressure of said spring means so as to assume a closed position.

2. A safety cap and container neck combination having a container neck provided with an end and a cap having a top overlying said end and a skirt surrounding said neck in which the improvement comprises:

said neck being formed of a resilient material,

cooperating holding means for securing said cap in a closed position on said neck formed on said neck and on said skirt,

the first of said holding means being a set of projections,

the second of said holding means including being a set of notch means for holding said projection,

spring means for resiliently holding said projections in said notch means, said spring means being located so as to bias said cap away from said end of said neck,

said spring means comprising a sealing flange extending from said end of said neck and engaging said top of said cap so as to form a seal therewith,

at least one of said holding means being'formed of a resistant material so that said projections are capable of being snapped into said means as said cap is forced towards said container neck against the pressure of said spring means so as to assume a closed position.

3. A safety cap and container neck combination as claimed in claim 2 wherein:

there are equal numbers of said projections and said means,

and,

said projections and said notch means are located in planes perpendicular to the axes of said skirt and said neck,

each of said holding means includes a ramp having an inclined upper surface leading to a notch means,

said upper surfaces being sloped so that upon twisting of said cap upon said neck during the assembly of said cap on said neck said projections hit upon said upper surfaces and are directed into said notch means.

4. A safety cap and container neck construction as claimed in claim 3 wherein:

said ramps have sloping lower surfaces inclined in the same direction as said upper surfaces.

5. A safety cap and container as claimed in claim 2 wherein:

said sealing flange is a tapered sealing flange.

6. In the combination of a safety cap having a top and a dependent cylindrical skirt and of a cylindrical container neck having an end, said cap in said closed position fitting over said neck so that said top extends across said end and said skirt extends along the exterior of said neck, said cap and said skirt having cooperating holding means on the interior of said skirt and of the exterior of said neck, said holding means engaging one another when said cap is in said closed position so as to prevent movement of said cap in a direction away from said neck, said holding means permitting said cap to be moved relative to said neck so that the holding means on said cap and said neck are displaced from one another so that said cap can be removed from said neck, said combination including means biasing said cap in a direction away from said neck, said biasing means causing said holding means to be held in engagement with one another when said cap is in said closed position, the improvement which comprises:

one of said holding means comprising a plurality of projections,

the other of said holding means including a plurality of ramp structures, each of said structures having an inclined upper surface leading to a notch and a sloping lower surface,

said surfaces of said ramp being sloped so that upon placement of said cap upon said neck during the assembly of said cap on said neck and upon twisting of said cap relative to said cap said projections will be directed by contact with said ramps so as to fit within said notches.

7. The combination as claimed in claim 6 including:

a retainer located adjacent to each of said notches, said projections and said retainers being sufficiently resilient with respect to one another so that said projections can be snapped past said retainers into said notches during the assembly of said cap on said neck.

PC4050 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 5 9 CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 ,6l 2,324 Dated October l2, l97l Inventor) Dell M. Malick It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column l line 9, "is" should read --in--;

Column 3, line 58 (Claim l, line 6) "is" should read --in---,

Column 4, lines l8-l9 (Claim 2, lines l8-l9) "resistant" should read --resilient--;

Column 4, line 20 (Claim 2, line 20) the word "notch" should be inserted before the word "means";

7 Column 4, line 25 (Claim 3, line 3) the word "notch" should be inserted before the word "means";

Column 4, line 29 (Claim 3, line 7) the word "second" should be inserted before the word "holdinq";

Column 4, l ine 39 (Claim 5, line 1 the words "neck combination" should be inserted after the word "container";

Signed and sealed this 18th day of April 1972.

(SEAL) At te st EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting, Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. A safety cap and container neck combination having a container neck provided with an end and a cap having a top ovErlying said end and a skirt surrounding said neck in which the improvement comprises: said neck being formed of a resilient material, cooperating holding means for securing said cap is a closed position on said neck formed as said neck and on said skirt, the first of said holding means being a set of projections, the second of said holding means including being a set of notch means for holding said projections, spring means for resiliently holding said projections in said notch means, said spring means being located so as to bias said cap away from said end of said neck, said spring means comprising a bellows fold in said neck, said bellows fold exerting pressure causing said end of said neck to fit against said top so as to form a seal therewith, at least one of said holding means being formed of a resilient material so that said projections are capable of being snapped into said notch means as said cap is forced towards said container neck against the pressure of said spring means so as to assume a closed position.
 2. A safety cap and container neck combination having a container neck provided with an end and a cap having a top overlying said end and a skirt surrounding said neck in which the improvement comprises: said neck being formed of a resilient material, cooperating holding means for securing said cap in a closed position on said neck formed on said neck and on said skirt, the first of said holding means being a set of projections, the second of said holding means including being a set of notch means for holding said projection, spring means for resiliently holding said projections in said notch means, said spring means being located so as to bias said cap away from said end of said neck, said spring means comprising a sealing flange extending from said end of said neck and engaging said top of said cap so as to form a seal therewith, at least one of said holding means being formed of a resistant material so that said projections are capable of being snapped into said means as said cap is forced towards said container neck against the pressure of said spring means so as to assume a closed position.
 3. A safety cap and container neck combination as claimed in claim 2 wherein: there are equal numbers of said projections and said means, and, said projections and said notch means are located in planes perpendicular to the axes of said skirt and said neck, each of said holding means includes a ramp having an inclined upper surface leading to a notch means, said upper surfaces being sloped so that upon twisting of said cap upon said neck during the assembly of said cap on said neck said projections hit upon said upper surfaces and are directed into said notch means.
 4. A safety cap and container neck construction as claimed in claim 3 wherein: said ramps have sloping lower surfaces inclined in the same direction as said upper surfaces.
 5. A safety cap and container as claimed in claim 2 wherein: said sealing flange is a tapered sealing flange.
 6. In the combination of a safety cap having a top and a dependent cylindrical skirt and of a cylindrical container neck having an end, said cap in said closed position fitting over said neck so that said top extends across said end and said skirt extends along the exterior of said neck, said cap and said skirt having cooperating holding means on the interior of said skirt and of the exterior of said neck, said holding means engaging one another when said cap is in said closed position so as to prevent movement of said cap in a direction away from said neck, said holding means permitting said cap to be moved relative to said neck so that the holding means on said cap and said neck are displaced from one another so that said cap can be removed from said neck, said combination including means biasing said cap in a direction away from said neck, said biasing means causing said holding means to be held in Engagement with one another when said cap is in said closed position, the improvement which comprises: one of said holding means comprising a plurality of projections, the other of said holding means including a plurality of ramp structures, each of said structures having an inclined upper surface leading to a notch and a sloping lower surface, said surfaces of said ramp being sloped so that upon placement of said cap upon said neck during the assembly of said cap on said neck and upon twisting of said cap relative to said cap said projections will be directed by contact with said ramps so as to fit within said notches.
 7. The combination as claimed in claim 6 including: a retainer located adjacent to each of said notches, said projections and said retainers being sufficiently resilient with respect to one another so that said projections can be snapped past said retainers into said notches during the assembly of said cap on said neck. 